Design, synthesis and lipid-lowering activities of penipyridone derivatives.

On the basis of our earlier discovered natural product penipyridone G with potential lipid-lowering utility, 35 penipyridone derivatives were designed, synthesized and characterized. Based on the oleic acid-induced HepG2 cell lipid accumulation model, compounds 12c, 14, 15f, 15k, 15o, 15p and 16f showed potent lipid-lowering activities among the synthetic compounds at 10 μM. In particular, compounds 4, 15k, 15o showed significant activities on inhibiting lipid accumulation in insulin resistant HepG2 cells, and these three compounds were safe and non-toxic within the concentration range of 400 μM. In comparison, 15o possessed the best lipid-lowering activity. Compared with the vehicle group, the triglyceride inhibition rate of 15o was about 30.2%, and the total cholesterol inhibition rate was about 14.8% at 20 μM, which was equipotent to Simvastatin. Our research indicates that 15o may serve as a promising lead compound for the development of hypolipidemic drugs.